Series Review: Don’t Watch Inventing Anna
By now, many of you may have seen Netflix’s 2022 original series, Inventing Anna. As a sucker for a short series, I too thought I would be engrossed in a binge session that lasted at least a few days. To my surprise, the show ended up being a tortuous drag that I forced myself to finish simply because I felt I’d made it too far to give up entirely.
In my opinion, the show was an embellished and laborious take on a riveting Vanity Fair article from 2018. Moreover, the potential for Inventing Anna to be a shorter mini-series, one with better casting and more accuracy, made me dislike the final product even more.
Actress Julia Garner as Anna Sorokin
Let’s first discuss the Vanity Fair article that disseminated the fake heiress’s story and scams.
In 2018, Rachel Deloache Williams wrote an autobiographical account of her relationship with Anna Sorokin, better known as Anna Delvey.
Like many others, Williams was the victim of Delvey’s fraudulent scheme and false friendship, ultimately being scammed out of around $70,000.
The real Anna Sorokin (a.k.a. Anna Delvey)
Williams details the short, year and a half timeline that makes up her relationship with Sorokin – the ‘free’ trips, personal training sessions, 5-star restaurant meals, luxury resorts, and designer clothing that Sorokin treated her to. Williams’ timeline ends in court, testifying against Sorokin as the victim of second-degree grand larceny.
Williams wasn’t the only one scammed. Following a New York investigation, Sorokin was found to have been living as a fake socialite, frequenting high-society events and living the life of an overtly wealthy individual by fooling other wealthy people and check-kiting major banks. Williams wrote this to disclose Sorokin’s wrongdoings to all of Vanity Fair’s subscribers, and later to the world with her book, My Friend Anna.
Two and a half years later, Netflix paid Sorokin over $300,000 for her life rights so they could produce the series Inventing Anna. The series follows a journalist who visits Anna in prison to write a feature on her before someone else can, all while Anna is on trial.
The style of the show is somewhat sympathetic towards Sorokin, attempting to show her cunning edge.
Williams was upset to hear about Inventing Anna. In an additional Vanity Fair interview following the release of the series, William refers to it as a ‘dangerous’ depiction, empathizing with a con artist in a cliché attempt at a feminist villain story.
Anna Sorokin, sentenced to four to 12 years in prison on May 9th 2019
Rachel DeLoach Williams
I somewhat agree with her. The show—in a boring and repetitive manner—glorifies Sorokin’s crimes, after she had already been released from prison and pardoned for some of her charges. Now, Netflix has given her a chance to profit off of the crimes that she is no longer paying for, all while crafting a narrative that engenders empathy. Despite many inaccuracies, the story is marketed as true.
If you are considering watching this series, I would first recommend you read Rachel Williams’ article. Netflix has spun Sorokin’s story to create an ambiguous narrative that is detached from reality, one that removes Sorokin from the serious context of her very real crimes. Quite simply, I found it underwhelming. But the genre of true crime—despite the lack of total truth–continues to be a popular cash cow for streaming services, and the show received much attention, both positive and negative.